IV

Squally
weather in the Azores --High living --Delirious
from cheese and plums --The pilot of the
Pinta --At Gibraltar --Compliments
exchanged with the British navy --A picnic on the
Morocco shore

I SET
sail from Horta early on July 24. The
southwest wind at the time was light, but squalls
came up with the sun, and I was glad enough to get
reefs in my sails before I had gone a mile. I had
hardly set the mainsail, double-reefed, when a
squall of wind down the mountains struck the sloop
with such violence that I thought her mast would
go. However, a quick helm brought her to the
wind. As it was, one of the weather lanyards was
carried away and the other was stranded. My tin
basin, caught up by the wind, went flying across a
French school-ship to leeward. It was more or
less squally all day, sailing along under high
land; but rounding close under a bluff, I found an
opportunity to mend the lanyards broken in the
squall. No sooner had I lowered my sails when a
four-oared boat shot out from some gully in the
rocks, with a customs officer on board, who
thought he had come upon a smuggler. I had some
difficulty in making him comprehend the true case.
However, one of his crew, a sailorly chap, who
understood how matters were, while we palavered
jumped on board and rove off the new lanyards I
had already prepared, and with a friendly hand
helped me "set up the rigging." This
incident gave the turn in my favor. My story was
then clear to all. I have found this the way of
the world. Let one be without a friend, and see
what will happen!

Passing the island of Pico, after the rigging
was mended, the Spray stretched
across to leeward of the island of St. Michael's,
which she was up with early on the morning of July
26, the wind blowing hard. Later in the day she
passed the Prince of Monaco's fine steam-yacht
bound to Fayal, where, on a previous voyage, the
prince had slipped his cables to "escape a
reception" which the padres of the island
wished to give him. Why he so dreaded the
"ovation" I could not make out. At
Horta they did not know. Since reaching the
islands I had lived most luxuriously on fresh
bread, butter, vegetables, and fruits of all
kinds. Plums seemed the most plentiful on the
Spray, and these I ate without stint.
I had also a Pico white cheese that General
Manning, the American consul-general, had given
me, which I supposed was to be eaten, and of this
I partook with the plums. Alas! by night-time I
was doubled up with cramps. The wind, which was
already a smart breeze, was increasing somewhat,
with a heavy sky to the sou'west. Reefs had been
turned out, and I must turn them in again somehow.
Between cramps I got the mainsail down, hauled out
the earings as best I could, and tied away point
by point, in the double reef. There being
sea-room, I should, in strict prudence, have made
all snug and gone down at once to my cabin. I am
a careful man at sea, but this night, in the
coming storm, I swayed up my sails, which, reefed
though they were, were still too much in such
heavy weather; and I saw to it that the sheets
were securely belayed. In a word, I should have
laid to, but did not. I gave her the
double-reefed mainsail and whole jib instead, and
set her on her course. Then I went below, and
threw myself upon the cabin floor in great pain.
How long I lay there I could not tell, for I
became delirious. When I came to, as I thought,
from my swoon, I realized that the sloop was
plunging into a heavy sea, and looking out of the
companionway, to my amazement I saw a tall man at
the helm. His rigid hand, grasping the spokes of
the wheel, held them as in a vise. One may
imagine my astonishment. His rig was that of a
foreign sailor, and the large red cap he wore was
cockbilled over his left ear, and all was set off
with shaggy black whiskers. He would have been
taken for a pirate in any part of the world.
While I gazed upon his threatening aspect I forgot
the storm, and wondered if he had come to cut my
throat. This he seemed to divine.
"Señor," said he, doffing his
cap, "I have come to do you no harm."
And a smile, the faintest in the world, but still
a smile, played on his face, which seemed not
unkind when he spoke. "I have come to do you
no harm. I have sailed free," he said,
"but was never worse than a
contrabandista. I am one of Columbus's
crew," he continued. "I am the pilot of
the Pinta come to aid you. Lie
quiet, señor captain," he added,"
and I will guide your ship to-night.
You have a
calentura, but you will be all right
to-morrow." I thought what a very devil he
was to carry sail. Again, as if he read my mind,
he exclaimed: "Yonder is the
Pinta ahead; we must overtake her.
Give her sail; give her sail! Vale, vale, muy
vale!" Biting off a large quid of black
twist, he said: "You did wrong, captain, to
mix cheese with plums. White cheese is never safe
unless you know whence it comes. Quien
sabe, it may have been from leche de
Capra and becoming capricious----"

"Avast, there!" I cried. "I
have no mind for moralizing."

I made shift to spread a mattress and lie on
that instead of the hard floor, my eyes all the
while fastened on my strange guest, who, remarking
again that I would have "only pains and
calentura," chuckled as he chanted a wild
song:

High are the waves, fierce, gleaming,
High is the tempest roar!
High the sea-bird screaming!
High the Azore!

I suppose I was now on the mend, for I was
peevish, and complained: "I detest your
jingle. Your Azore should be at roost, and would
have been were it a respectable bird!" I
begged he would tie a rope-yarn on the rest of the
song, if there was any more of it. I was still in
agony. Great seas were boarding the
Spray, but in my fevered brain I
thought they were boats falling on deck, that
careless draymen were throwing from wagons on the
pier to which I imagined the Spray
was now moored, and without fenders to breast her
off. "You'll smash your boats!" I
called out again and again, as the seas crashed on
the cabin over my head. "You'll smash your
boats, but you can't hurt the Spray.
She is strong!" I cried. I found, when my
pains and calentura had gone, that the deck, now
as white as a shark's tooth from seas washing over
it, had been swept of everything movable. To my
astonishment, I saw now at broad day that the
Spray was still heading as I had left
her, and was going like a race-horse. Columbus
himself could not have held her more exactly on
her course. The sloop had made ninety miles in
the night through a rough sea. I felt grateful to
the old pilot, but I marveled some that he had not
taken in the jib. The gale was moderating, and by
noon the sun was shining. A meridian altitude and
the distance on the patent log, which I always
kept towing, told me that she had made a true
course throughout the twenty-four hours. I was
getting much better now, but was very weak, and
did not turn out reefs that day or the night
following, although the wind fell light; but I
just put my wet clothes out in the sun when it was
shining, and lying down there myself, fell asleep.
Then who should visit me again but my old friend
of the night before, this time, of course, in a
dream. "You did well last night to take my
advice," said he, "and if you would, I
should like to be with you often on the voyage,
for the love of adventure alone." Finishing
what he had to say, he again doffed his cap and
disappeared as mysteriously as he came, returning,
I suppose, to the phantom Pinta. I
awoke much refreshed, and with the feeling that I
had been in the presence of a friend and a seaman
of vast experience. I gathered up my clothes,
which by this time were dry, then, by inspiration,
I threw overboard all the plums in the vessel.
July 28 was exceptionally fine. The wind from the
northwest was light and the air balmy. I
overhauled my wardrobe, and bent on a white shirt
against nearing some coasting-packet with genteel
folk on board. I also did some washing to get the
salt out of my clothes. After it all I was
hungry, so I made a fire and very cautiously
stewed a dish of pears and set them carefully
aside till I had made a pot of delicious coffee,
for both of which I could afford sugar and cream.
But the crowning dish of all was a fish-hash, and
there was enough of it for two. I was in good
health again, and my appetite was simply ravenous.
While I was dining I had a large onion over the
double lamp stewing for a luncheon later in the
day. High living to-day! In the afternoon the
Spray came upon a large turtle asleep
on the sea. He awoke with my harpoon through his
neck, if he awoke at all. I had much difficulty
in landing him on deck, which I finally
accomplished by hooking the throat-halyards to one
of his flippers, for he was about as heavy as my
boat. I saw more turtles, and I rigged a burton
ready with which to hoist them in; for I was
obliged to lower the mainsail whenever the
halyards were used for such purposes, and it was
no small matter to hoist the large sail again.
But the turtle-steak was good. I found no fault
with the cook, and it was the rule of the voyage
that the cook found no fault with me. There was
never a ship's crew so well agreed. The bill of
fare that evening was turtle-steak, tea and toast,
fried potatoes, stewed onions; with dessert of
stewed pears and cream.

Sometime in the afternoon I passed a
barrel-buoy adrift, floating light on the water.
It was painted red, and rigged with a signal-staff
about six feet high. A sudden change in the
weather coming on, I got no more turtle or fish of
any sort before reaching port. July 31 a gale
sprang up suddenly from the north, with heavy
seas, and I shortened sail. The
Spray made only fifty-one miles on
her course that day. August 1 the gale continued,
with heavy seas. Through the night the sloop was
reaching, under close-reefed mainsail and bobbed
jib. At 3 P. M. the
jib was washed off the bowsprit and blown to rags
and ribbons. I bent the "jumbo" on a
stay at the night-heads. As for the jib, let it
go; I saved pieces of it, and, after all, I was in
want of pot-rags.

On August 3 the gale broke, and I saw many
signs of land. Bad weather having made itself
felt in the galley, I was minded to try my hand at
a loaf of bread, and so rigging a pot of fire on
deck by which to bake it, a loaf soon became an
accomplished fact. One great feature about ship's
cooking is that one's appetite on the sea is
always good--a fact that I realized when I cooked
for the crew of fishermen in the before-mentioned
boyhood days. Dinner being over, I sat for hours
reading the life of Columbus, and as the day wore
on I watched the birds all flying in one
direction, and said, "Land lies there."
Early the next morning, August 4, I discovered
Spain. I saw fires on shore, and knew that the
country was inhabited. The Spray
continued on her course till well in with the
land, which was that about Trafalgar. Then
keeping away a point, she passed through the
Strait of Gibraltar, where she cast anchor at 3
P. M. of the same day,
less than twenty-nine days from Cape Sable. At
the finish of this preliminary trip I found myself
in excellent health, not overworked or cramped,
but as well as ever in my life, though I was as
thin as a reef-point. Two Italian barks, which
had been close alongside at daylight, I saw long
after I had anchored, passing up the African side
of the strait. The Spray had sailed
them both hull down before she reached Tarifa. So
far as I know, the Spray beat
everything going across the Atlantic except the
steamers.

All was well, but I had forgotten to bring a
bill of health from Horta, and so when the fierce
old port doctor came to inspect there was a row.
That, however, was the very thing needed. If you
want to get on well with a true Britisher you must
first have a deuce of a row with him. I knew that
well enough, and so I fired away, shot for shot,
as best I could. "Well, yes," the
doctor admitted at last, "your crew are
healthy enough, no doubt, but who knows the
diseases of your last port?"--a reasonable
enough remark. "We ought to put you in the
fort, sir!" he blustered; "but never
mind. Free pratique, sir! Shove off,
cockswain!" And that was the last I saw of
the port doctor.

But on the following morning a steam-launch,
much longer than the Spray, came
alongside,--or as much of her as could get
alongside,--with compliments from the senior naval
officer, Admiral Bruce, saying there was a berth
for the Spray at the arsenal. This
was around at the new mole. I had anchored at the
old mole, among the native craft, where it was
rough and uncomfortable. Of course I was glad to
shift, and did so as soon as possible, thinking of
the great company the Spray would be
in among battle-ships such as the
Collingwood, Baifteur,
and Cormorant, which were at that
time stationed there, and on board all of which I
was entertained, later, most royally. "'Put
it thar!' as the Americans say," was the
salute I got from Admiral Bruce, when I called at
the admiralty to thank him for his courtesy of the
berth, and for the use of the steam-launch which
towed me into dock. "About the berth, it is
all right if it suits, and we'll tow you out when
you are ready to go. But, say, what repairs do
you want? Ahoy the HebeSpray
wants a new jib. Construction and repair, there!
will you see to the Spray? Say, old
man, you must have knocked the devil out of her
coming over alone in twenty-nine days! But we'll
make it smooth for you here!" Not even her
Majesty's ship the Collingwood was
better looked after than the Spray at
Gibraltar.

Later in the day came the hail:
"Spray ahoy! Mrs. Bruce would
like to come on board and shake hands with the
Spray. Will it be convenient
to-day?" "Very!" I joyfully
shouted. On the following day Sir F. Carrington,
at the time governor of Gibraltar, with other high
officers of the garrison, and all the commanders
of the battle-ships, came on board and signed
their names in the Spray's log-book.
Again there was a hail, "Spray
ahoy!" "Hello!" "Commander
Reynolds's compliments. You are invited on board
H. M. S. Collingwood, 'at home' at
4:30 P. M. Not later
than 5:30 P. M."
I had already hinted at the limited amount of my
wardrobe, and that I could never succeed as a
dude. "You are expected, sir, in a stovepipe
hat and a claw-hammer coat!" "Then I
can't come." "Dash it! come in what you
have on; that is what we mean." "Aye,
aye, sir!" The Collingwood's
cheer was good, and had I worn a silk hat as high
as the moon I could not have had a better time or
been made more at home. An Englishman, even on
his great battle-ship, unbends when the stranger
passes his gangway, and when he says "at
home" he means it. That one should like
Gibraltar would go without saying. How could one
help loving so hospitable a place? Vegetables
twice a week and milk every morning came from the
palatial grounds of the admiralty.
"Spray ahoy!" would hail
the admiral. "Spray ahoy!"
"Hello!" "To-morrow is your
vegetable day, sir." "Aye, aye,
sir!"

I rambled much about the old city, and a gunner
piloted me through the galleries of the rock as
far as a stranger is permitted to go. There is no
excavation in the world, for military purposes, at
all approaching these of Gibraltar in conception
or execution. Viewing the stupendous works, it
became hard to realize that one was within the
Gibraltar of his little old Morse geography.

Before sailing I was invited on a picnic with
the governor, the officers of the garrison, and
the commanders of the war-ships at the station;
and a royal affair it was. Torpedo-boat No. 91,
going twenty-two knots, carried our party to the
Morocco shore and back. The day was perfect--too
fine, in fact, for comfort on shore, and so no one
landed at Morocco. No. 91 trembled like an
aspen-leaf as she raced through the sea at top
speed. Sublieutenant Boucher, apparently a mere
lad, was in command, and handled his ship with the
skill of an older sailor. On the following day I
lunched with General Carrington, the governor, at
Line Wall House, which was once the Franciscan
convent. In this interesting edifice are
preserved relics of the fourteen sieges which
Gibraltar has seen. On the next day I supped with
the admiral at his residence, the palace, which
was once the convent of the Mercenaries. At each
place, and all about, I felt the friendly grasp of
a manly hand, that lent me vital strength to pass
the coming long days at sea. I must confess that
the perfect discipline, order, and cheerfulness at
Gibraltar were only a second wonder in the great
stronghold. The vast amount of business going
forward caused no more excitement than the quiet
sailing of a well-appointed ship in a smooth sea.
No one spoke above his natural voice, save a
boatswain's mate now and then. The Hon. Horatio
J. Sprague, the venerable United States consul at
Gibraltar, honored the Spray with a
visit on Sunday, August 24, and was much pleased
to find that our British cousins had been so kind
to her.